Tractor wheel rim



Jan. 9, 1923a F. P.. SEELE. lTRACTOR WHEEL FHM.

FILED APR.29|1920.

IHHIHI lllatentetl dan. tl,

FREDERICK IE'. STEELE, 0F NDIANl-MPLS NIENTE, TO ll/DWJEST ENGNECRPDRMCGN, lill PORATEON Uli' DELAWRE.

TEACTR "WHEEL ttllft.

Application filed April 29, 1920. Serial lio. 377,553.

To ait whom t may concern: y

lie it known that l, Fnnnnnion l?. Eliminare, a citizen ol the UnitedStates, residing at lndianapolis, in the county of Marion and State oitlindiana. have invented a new and useful Tractor lvlheel Rini, oit whichthe toll lowing is a speciiication.

lt is the object of my present invention to provide a tractor riniconstruction, which for a minimum width oit tread will give a maximumsustaining power and maximum traction.

lt is well known that any tractor wheel or rim running on loose sand orsoil will when acting as a driver cause such sand or soil to flow awayfrom the rim, thus permitting the wheel to sink in to a comparativelygreat depth; so that. in order for the wheel to run at all it mustcontinuously attempt to climb out ot the hole, thus in eltect making acontinuous up-hill pull. 'llhis requires an excess or power in order torthe wheel to pull tselif and the associated implement through the sand.

Many attempts to provide lugs and rims suitable 'for sandy soils havebeen failures because by increasing the width or the wheel to preventsinking into the sand additional weight has been added, which causesmore sinking; and the additional width has made harder the operation ofthe tractor in turning, on account of the twisting oit the wheel in thesoil.

llt a rim were equipped. with open-ended cans with their open endsoutward, such cans would prevent the sand or soil caught within themfrom flowing out under the wheel; but while such a structure would havegreat sustaining power and great traction the cans would soon lill withcaked sand and earth and the elliciency of the rim and the grouterswould be very shortslived.

By my present invention, l get in a large measure the same benefitswhich could be obtained with such can construction, but avoid the calingfeature.

ln accomplishing this result, l make the grouters, in effect, as partsof cans, or as hollow cubes with the outer end and the orward end andone of the arial sides removed, so that each grouter comprises threesides of such a hollow cube, one side i'r'or attachment to the riniproper., one side parallel to the axis, and one side perpendicular tothe airis, ./"iltei'nate groutcrs are ably arranged with their openarial ends eut. away. u

'lhe accompanying drawing illustrates .my invention: l `ig` l is an endelevation of `a tractor-wheel riin equipped with grouters according tomy invention; 2 is an edge view ot such rim; and llig. 3 shows a detailoil a modified grouter.

'llhe wheel rim l() is preferably provided with an inwardly projecting'l'lange ll, which serves both to strengthen the rim and to provide anattaching means ilor demountably attaching the rim to a wheel; but thisdetail is not my invention.

Around the outside oit the rim l0 are lo` cated my grouters l2, whichare suitably riveted to the rim. lilach ot these grouters comprisesthree adjacent sides ot a hollow cube or substantially rectangularprism, for equality ol dimensions is not necessary. The side lil bearsagainst the rim 10, `and is riveted thereto by the rivets 1.4i; the sidel5 is substantially parallel to the airis, and is substantially radialwith respect to the rim, which side l5 is preterably the rear side otthe grouter with reference to the normal direction ot the rotation otthe wheel; and the side 16 is substantially perpendicular to the axis ofthe wheel. 'lihe three sides 13, 15, and l are adjacent sides ot therectangular prism, and are rigid with one another, the other sides orsuch prism being open. rl`he sides 16 ot alternate grouters are atopposite axial ends or such grouters, as is clear from Fig. 2.

ln operation7 the grouters l2 serve very effectively to prevent the sand'from running out :trom the grouters, by the action of the sides 16 otsuch grouters. `Yet these grouters :termed open-sided hollow 'prismsopen on three sides eiectively serve to prevent cal:- ing oi the sand orsoil in the grouters. ln order further to prevent such calming.,especially in clay the corners oil the sides 13. l5, and 1.6 where theyall come together may be cut away, as shown in 3. to torni an openingli', which permits the claw or other soil to be pushed throughsufliciently to insure that there will be no calling.

'llhe wheel rim may be provided with radial holes 18 alternating withthe grouters, in order further to prevent eaking and to increase thetraction.

I claim as my invention:l

l. In a tractor wheel, the combination of a rim, and grouters mounted onsaid rim and each comprising outwardly projecting parts constituting twosides of a hollow substan-y tially rectangular prism and with an open `vside opposite each of said two sides.

2. In a tractor wheel, the combination ofa rim, and grouters mounted onsaid rim and each comprising outwardly projecting parts constituting twosides of a hollow (substantially rectangular) prism, alternate groutersbeing set on the rim so that the open sidesv thereotl are in oppositedirections axially of the wheel.

3.' In a tractor wheel, the combination of a rim, and gro'uters attachedto said rin, each of said grouters comprising a base side which iSattached to the rim and two portions projecting outwardly from said baseside to constitute adjacent sides oi? a hollow prism with

